Methods and systems for scheduling appointments in healthcare systems

Abstract

Methods and systems for scheduling appointments in healthcare environments are described. An example computer implemented method of automatically scheduling a medical appointment includes enabling a first device associated with a patient to communicate with a provider scheduling system and inputting a patient schedule onto the provider scheduling system. The example method includes identifying a time slot, using a computer, at which both the patient schedule and a provider schedule have an open time slot and identifying a time and a location of a first appointment proximate to the open time slot based on the patient schedule. The example method includes determining an estimated travel time between the location of the first appointment and a location of a second appointment and determining a patient availability to schedule the second appointment in the open time slot based on the time of the first appointment and the estimated travel time between the location of the first appointment and the location of the second appointment.

1 . A computer-implemented method of scheduling a follow-up medical appointment, comprising:
 enabling a mobile device associated with a patient to communicate with a provider scheduling system;   inputting a patient schedule onto the provider scheduling system;   identifying a time slot, using a computer, at which both the patient schedule and a provider schedule have an open time slot;   identifying an end time and a location of a first appointment of the patient preceding the open time slot based on the patient schedule;   determining an estimated travel time between the location of the first appointment and a location of a second appointment; and   determining a patient availability to schedule the second appointment in the open time slot based on the end time of the first appointment and the estimated travel time from the location of the first appointment to the location of the second appointment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein enabling the mobile device to communicate with the provider scheduling system comprises enabling a short range communication protocol of the mobile device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inputting the patient schedule onto the provider scheduling system comprises obtaining a copy of the patient schedule and temporarily storing the patient schedule on the provider scheduling system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , the copy of the patient schedule being temporarily stored on a memory of the provider scheduling system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein comparing the patient schedule and the provider schedule comprises identifying a provider available time slot on the provider schedule and determining if the patient is available during the provider available time slot based on the patient schedule. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the end time and location of the first appointment comprises scanning the patient schedule to identify location identifying information, the location identifying information comprising at least one of an address, a zip code, a building name, data associated with a location field, a department name, or a location within a building. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated travel time is at least partially based on identifying a scheduling interval between appointments on the patient schedule. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated travel time is based at least partially on a mode of transportation of the patient, the mode of transportation being identified based on at least one of patient input, a location of the follow-up appointment, or an ability level of the patient. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated travel time is based at least partially on an ability level of the patient, the ability level being identified from patient data accessible to a healthcare facility associated with the second appointment. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , the data being stored on a memory at the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated travel time comprises interacting with a navigation system or a travel time chart. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying one or more other medical appointments on the provider scheduling system associated with the patient and factoring the other medical appointments into the patient schedule when identifying the time slot. 
     
     
         13 . A computer implemented method of automatically scheduling a medical appointment, comprising:
 enabling a first device associated with a patient to communicate with a provider scheduling system;   inputting a patient schedule onto the provider scheduling system;   identifying a time slot, using a computer, at which both the patient schedule and a provider schedule have an open time slot;   identifying a time and a location of a first appointment proximate to the open time slot based on the patient schedule;   determining an estimated travel time between the location of the first appointment and a location of a second appointment; and   determining a patient availability to schedule the second appointment in the open time slot based on the time of the first appointment and the estimated travel time between the location of the first appointment and the location of the second appointment.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 14 , the first device comprising a mobile device, and the mobile device to communicate with the provider scheduling system using a short range communication protocol. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein identifying the time and the location of the first appointment comprises scanning the patient schedule to identify location identifying information, the location identifying information comprising at least one of an address, a zip code, a building name, data associated with a location field, a department name, or a location within a building. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein identifying the time of the first appointment comprises identifying an end time of a first appointment prior to the open time slot. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein identifying the time of the first appointment comprises identifying a start time of a first appointment subsequent to the open time slot. 
     
     
         18 . A tangible computer-readable storage medium including executable instructions for execution using a processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, provide a scheduling system to schedule a medical appointment, the system comprising:
 an identifier to identify a time slot at which both the patient schedule and the provider schedule have an open time slot, the patient schedule or a copy thereof being stored on a memory accessible by the processor;   a scanner to scan at least a portion of the patient schedule to identify an end time and a location of a first appointment prior to the open time slot; and   a processer to determine a patient availability to schedule a second appointment in the time slot based on the end time of the first appointment and an estimated travel time from the first appointment to the second appointment.   
     
     
         19 . The tangible computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the processor is to determine the estimated travel time based at least partially on an ability level of the patient, the ability level being identified from patient data accessible to a healthcare facility associated with the second appointment. 
     
     
         20 . The tangible computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the processor is to determine the estimated travel time by interacting with at least one of a navigation system or a travel time chart.